The Custodian: An unsung hero

Tweet Think back of when you were in High School for a second.  Most likely you will be reminded of funny moments, terrible teachers, and boring classes.  Not for a second will anybody be reminded of the school custodians, or in more simple terms: the janitors, which is what the word custodian means.  There is a reason for this.  Although they are the first to arrive to the school and last to leave, they do not teach us, and generally are quiet about their business.  Without them however, the school would be a mess, it would be filthy and uncomfortable, and nobody would want to go there.  For this reason custodians are unsung heroes, willing to do stuff no one else will, in order to ensure that things keep moving forward.  Schools are not the only places custodians are found, meet: Brian Cardinal.

Now, if you are reading this blog,  I will assume you are (hopefully) enjoying it, and are a sports and entertainment (see what I did there?) fan.  No doubt you, the reader, knows exactly who Brian Cardinal is, and undoubtedly, a few of you know that his nickname is 'the custodian'.  So why am I comparing real custodians to an NBA player with merely a nickname?  Think about it, there is a reason he has stuck around in the NBA this long, despite never scoring more than 10 points per game, being barely more athletic than his tam's owner, and looking more like a guy who runs your local Burger King than an NBA player.  The reason he has lasted so long in the league is because he is willing to do things others are not (sound familiar?).  Now, he did not win game 5 last night for the Dallas Mavericks over the Miami Heat, but he enabled his team to do so.  His stat line is right out of House league: 10 minutes, 4 points, 1 steal, nothing else.  But in those 10 minutes he managed to cover admirably for the injured Brendan Haywood, although this may not seem significant, just re-watch the clinic Chris Bosh put on Ian Mahinmi. Not only did Cardinal do an acceptable job on covering one of Miami's big 3,but the fact that he was not hurting his team while on the floor meant that Dirk Nowitzki could get the rest he needed in order to close the game.  He set solid screens, drew fouls, and played position defense, none of those are recorded in the box score.  Brian Cardinal did not let himself lose conditioning, or get out of shape when he was playing limited minutes earlier in the playoffs, and now that he is being asked to play, he is showing no fear.  So just like custodians in high school, Cardinal understands that what he does is a necessity, and he is fine with you not noticing.